The NFL’s best pass rusher is coming off a record-setting 23.0-sack campaign. Garrett has been named a first-team All-Pro in five of the past six seasons, earned six consecutive Pro Bowls and had at least 10 sacks in each of the past eight campaigns — all but his rookie season in 2017.
A force of nature, Garrett wins off the line with a blink-of-an-eye first step and dominates with both finesse and power. The 30-year-old can single-handedly wreck offensive game plans and force teams to send double-teams and chips his way, making life easier for the rest of the unit.
In nine seasons, Garrett has gobbled up 125.5 career sacks, tied for 20th all-time. During his run, Cleveland struggled offensively, rarely giving the pass rusher opportunities to pin his ears back and snag garbage-time sacks with opponents in pass-first mode. In his nine years, the Browns never finished with an offense in the top 10 in EPA per play, and ranked dead last each of the past two seasons. That never slowed Garrett, who compiled 37 sacks in the last two campaigns.
Now imagine him playing opposite Stafford, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, Kyren Williams and the rest of Sean McVay’s offense.
As Stafford put up an MVP season in 2025, the Rams defense struggled at times to get stops — see: Seattle. Much of the issue was on the back end, which got repeatedly picked on. However, for spells, the pass rush went too quiet. Byron Young generated a team-high 12 sacks last year, with Verse coming in second with 7.5.
The Rams are the first team in NFL history to pair the reigning NFL MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, per NFL Network Research. They also boast the receptions leader (Nacua) and receiving touchdowns leader (Adams).
L.A. attacked the offseason, making big moves to revamp the secondary, trading a first-round pick to the Chiefs for McDuffie and adding Jaylen Watson in free agency.
Trading for Garrett trumps those moves, giving defensive coordinator Chris Shula the NFL’s top defensive weapon to deploy. Front to back, the Rams made massive moves to upgrade the unit exponentially in 2026.
The controversial move of selecting Ty Simpson in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft likely helped L.A. make this trade. With their QB succession plan for the 38-year-old Stafford theoretically handled, they could afford to send first-round picks to Cleveland, believing they won’t need to use that ammo for a signal-caller down the road.